Shirelles; "Love That Man" c/w "My Heart Belongs to You" (Scepter SCE 12144, 9/1965)

 

The Shirelles were chart-toppers in 1962. Three years later, their public estimation had plummeted. Their records weren’t to blame—they remained excellent. The pop fans fell hard for The Supremes, whose glossier approach was a world away from the homely, heartfelt sound of lead Shirelle Shirley Alston. Her wounded, world-weary voice gave The Shirelles’ recordings a resonance Diana Ross would never possess. But it wasn’t what the public wanted after 1962, when they had their final Top 40 charter with “Don’t Say Goodnight and Mean Goodbye.”

Eight of their next nine singles charted—the highest at #53, with one release missing altogether. It was just enough to keep Scepter Records interested, and to keep the group on the road. It must have galled them to see UK soul wannabes Manfred Mann take their 1964 single “Sha La La,” which they could only get up to #69, into the US Top 20 shortly after their original died. Several other British groups, including The Beatles, loved The Shirelles and paid homage to their recordings with their own covers, including John Lennon’s impassioned take on their “Baby, It’s You,” a souvenir from the girls’ days in the Top 10.

By 1965, it was clear Scepter Records hadn’t a clue how to salvage the Shirelles’ career. It didn’t help that the label re-released certain tracks; their song “Look Away” appeared on three consecutive 45s in 1966. The superior B-side of today’s single was recycled five months later as the underlid of a remake of their first hit “I Met Him on a Sunday,” given a very 1966 soul sound but sung, from all appearances, without joy by this beleaguered group.

To be fair, the group’s recent records—today’s included—had grown diffuse, in part due to their association with songwriters Valerie Simpson and Nicholas Ashford, who strove for a more mellow, loose approach than before. It was progress for The Shirelles, whose lead singer Shirley Alston was too talented to be locked into one format forever. She had more room to sing with expression and feeling; it just wasn’t what the world wanted to hear at the time.

“Love That Man,” that better B, reminds of Chicago soul and foreshadows some of Aretha Franklin's hits-to-come for Atlantic Records. Alston delivers a delicate, nuanced performance on this bluesy, easy-going account of a woman in love, despite the small but manageable difficulties in her beau’s surly attitude. It doesn’t sound one bit like Motown, to its everlasting credit. Something about this song and performance feels more modern than 1965. It’s a lost gem in the group’s catalog—the better side of their only Scepter single of the ‘60s to bill them as “Shirelles”…no “The.” Universally ignored, the record got to #125, which is just a hair’s breadth from complete failure.

Hear it >>>>> HERE. <<<<<

 “My Heart Belongs to You” continues in this more easy, soulful vein. The group’s harmony singing is superb, and Alston’s voice of experience—so vulnerable and resolute in its approach—shines in a setting of strings and effects-laden guitar. While I listen to both sides, I keep thinking of Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” which came out two years later.

Perhaps it’s because both songs sound like Carole King’s work of that year—both songs have a stately presence and are a far piece from the group’s earlier recordings. Kudos to The Shirelles for resisting the sound of The Supremes, even when it might have gotten them higher up the charts. Their late Scepter singles are among the hardest ones to find—they were manufactured in lower quantities and didn’t get played or heard.

Hear it >>>>> HERE. <<<<<

Tomorrow: Joe Bennett and The Sparkletones with a lesser-known but rockin’ ABC-Paramount 45 from 1958.